Auto-Translator
category:guidescategory:featured Articles center|Talk to Anyone with the Auto-translate Function! Final Fantasy XI has an auto-translating function to bridge the language divide between Japanese players and English speaking players. Text entered using this feature will appear in Japanese to those using the JP version of the game and in English to those using NA or EU version. Players are not able to add words or phrases but there is a list of items that rotate depending on the player. Using the Auto-Translate There are two ways to input text: auto-complete or through a category search. Auto-complete When entering text in the game you can always press the Tab Button to activate the auto-complete. This will open up a menu which will give you all the words and phrases that start with the letters you have already entered. Category Search Choosing a bracketted word from the auto-complete menu, or pressing tab without any previous input will trigger the category menu to be displayed, which consists of 38 original categories. Choosing one of these will then open up a sub-menu of words or phrases pertaining to the category. After you have already selected a word it will show in your input bar with colored brackets } signifying that it is an auto-translated word; if you delete or modify any part of this word the brackets will disappear and it will no longer be translated. Categories Key Items (varies) This category contains is based solely on the Key Items you currently have. Items (varies) This list of items changes constantly. With a maximum capacity of 200, it is populated as you view items in your inventory, equipment slots, bazaars, and the auction house, and when you see an auto-translated item name in chat. The items appear in alphabetical order, but the game maintains some kind of internal queue (FIFO) structure to replace the oldest items with new ones when it is full. Items currently in your inventory will always stay in this list. If you have already used the translation of an Item in the list, it will then allow you to use the auto-complete feature on that item if you wish to type it again for translation. Trivia * The auto-translate function was first introduced in the October 21, 2003 version update to coincide with the North American PC release of FFXI. * The green and red parentheses that denote the start and end of an auto-translated phrase were not introduced until the December 16, 2003 version update. * Zone names that begin with the word "The" such as "The Boyahda Tree" originally appeared with the preceding article. They were stripped of the article (e.g., "Boyahda Tree") (on September, 14, 2004?), but were given the articles again in the December 13, 2005 version update. * Although "Thank you." and "I'm back!" have been in the auto-translate system since 2003, "You're welcome." and "Welcome back." were not introduced until April 18, 2006. * Relic weapon skills were introduced on February 26, 2004 but to this day have not been added to the auto-translate function. * One of the most commonly misused phrases in the auto-translator is Reward, the BST Job Ability. Players often shouted in towns asking for services and offering a gil "Reward", but they were unaware that their requests did not make sense in Japanese. To alleviate this problem, the April 18, 2006 patch included a new phrase, "Reward:", that conveys the intended meaning to Japanese players. See Also * Auto-Translator: In-Depth * PlayOnline's introductory page about the auto-translate function has a brief overview of how to use it, followed by a short list of example phrases in both English and Japanese. * The Japanese version of the PlayOnline website has a much more complete Auto-Translation Guide: ** Conversation ** Equipment ** Spells, Songs, Ninjutsu, Avatars ** Additional Terms ** Job Abilities, Job Traits ** Weapon Skills ** Place Names ** Skills, Shops